Trillion Dollars

THE ONLY benefit the public has from the Reagan administration is that millions of people found out the amount of money a trillion dollars is, as in the national debt. If Ronald Reagan had not won the election, the public would never have known.Abraham BrandweinMAITLAND

CNN During the campaign -- candidate Obama repeatedly promised the middle class wouldn't see its taxes increase "one single dime." . . . Fast-forward a year . . . After bank bailouts, auto bailouts and the economic stimulus package -- the president is trying to figure out a way to pay for all this plus health-care reform while also reducing deficits. There aren't many choices: Either raise taxes or cut spending. Jack Cafferty The Foundry President Obama is finding that keeping the promises made by candidate Obama is next to impossible.

SOMEONE SHOULD total up these weekly multimillion/billion-dollar-spending proposals from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. We've probably been misled by nearly a trillion dollars so far. They know that these vast spending programs couldn't happen even with a Democrat-controlled Congress, much less within their balanced-budget agreement with Republicans. Yet, almost daily since 1999 A.M. (After Monica) they've unveiled huge, imaginary feel-good plans they know can't be financed. Honesty, it seems, continues to elude the Clinton-Gore administration.

We're all familiar with the terms haves and have-nots. Today, those same words are more appropriately applied to people who have the peace of mind that comes with having health insurance and those who worry every time they burn their fingers on the stove because they have no coverage. Twenty years ago, I was one of the lucky haves. Even after two back surgeries within a year, my insurance company made no effort to raise my premium. Then, a few years later, my doctor gave me the news that I had a potentially serious chronic illness.

IN ANSWER to Trez Vining's letter: We are not overtaxed because we have a surplus in the national budget for a few years. By that reasoning, we were undertaxed during the Ronald Reagan-George Bush years when the debt rose from less than a trillion dollars at the end of the Jimmy Carter administration to more than $4 trillion at the end of Bush's. This enormous debt was caused by high increases in military spending financed by borrowing because taxes were being cut. I and my children and grandchildren won't believe that we're overtaxed until the national debt is paid.

I am opposed to the rebate of $168 billion, because we must borrow the money, and at 5 percent interest, it would cost $8.4 billion a year. Within 30 to 40 years with compound interest, it will add another trillion dollars to our debt. Since future generations will wind up paying many times over for this despicable political scheme, I will give my rebate to my grandchildren, with a letter of apology -- with the understanding that a mere apology cannot undo the damage our greed and selfishness will cause them for their entire lives.

THE RECENT article ''Budget Cuts Would Hit States Hard'' contains one serious omission. Sean Holton points out how Florida and 34 other states receive more in federal benefits than we are paying in taxes. But that's not surprising, considering we have an annual budget deficit near $200 billion and a national debt of several trillion dollars.Congress has been borrowing from the future generations to provide politically expedient handouts. For the sake of our children, there is no alternative but to bring fiscal responsibility back into fashion in Congress.

I am just an everyday hardworking, taxpaying, law-abiding citizen. I am so angry and feel so powerless toward our financial situation. Our so-called leaders have done nothing,and are doing nothing to prevent this from happening. Our government is the one body that has the absolute power to repair our economy, but instead it throws tons of our money away. I guarantee if half a trillion dollars was put in the hands of working-class people instead of greedy financial institutions, our economy would truly be stimulated.

DISLIKE FOR taxes is an age-old tradition. The Pharisees knew it when they tried to entrap Jesus by asking him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to the Roman emperor, Caesar. Later they railed against him for dining with tax collectors, a group they despised, just as some people today view the Internal Revenue Service.It is not surprising then that Republican lawmakers in Washington think that they are on a winning track in promising to cut taxes by almost a trillion dollars from expected budget surplus.

OUR NATIONAL debate over defense spending has focused more on images and feelings than on the extent to which the United States is vulnerable to nuclear attack or to armed invasion.Our debate has dealt mostly with:-- Our desire to ''stand tall'' -- and feel strong.-- Our ability to project an image of strength (with carrier task forces). -- How much the Soviets spent or are spending on defense.-- Our overall military strength compared with that of the Soviets.Our defense debate generally has ignored:-- The unacceptable losses the Soviets would suffer if they bombed the United States.

I am just an everyday hardworking, taxpaying, law-abiding citizen. I am so angry and feel so powerless toward our financial situation. Our so-called leaders have done nothing,and are doing nothing to prevent this from happening. Our government is the one body that has the absolute power to repair our economy, but instead it throws tons of our money away. I guarantee if half a trillion dollars was put in the hands of working-class people instead of greedy financial institutions, our economy would truly be stimulated.

I am opposed to the rebate of $168 billion, because we must borrow the money, and at 5 percent interest, it would cost $8.4 billion a year. Within 30 to 40 years with compound interest, it will add another trillion dollars to our debt. Since future generations will wind up paying many times over for this despicable political scheme, I will give my rebate to my grandchildren, with a letter of apology -- with the understanding that a mere apology cannot undo the damage our greed and selfishness will cause them for their entire lives.

A United Nations panel Friday released its most comprehensive strategy to avoid catastrophic effects of global warming, but experts said political and economic realities likely doom it to failure. Though more than 100 countries backed the report, experts said its call for a global, multitrillion-dollar effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is unrealistic. The U.S. and China --which account for more than 40 percent of the world's emissions -- approved the report but have given no indication they would reverse long-held opposition to mandatory reductions in emissions.

WASHINGTON --- Back when the late John Mitchell was attorney general in the Nixon administration, he advised reporters, "Watch what we do, not what we say." That advice certainly applies to the Bush administration as well. The latest bit of evidence to come to my attention is what you might think of as the Case of the Disappearing Trillion. The tip-off arrived last week in an e-mail from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It is a Washington research organization with a distinctly liberal point of view but a deserved reputation for accuracy in its figures.

IN ANSWER to Trez Vining's letter: We are not overtaxed because we have a surplus in the national budget for a few years. By that reasoning, we were undertaxed during the Ronald Reagan-George Bush years when the debt rose from less than a trillion dollars at the end of the Jimmy Carter administration to more than $4 trillion at the end of Bush's. This enormous debt was caused by high increases in military spending financed by borrowing because taxes were being cut. I and my children and grandchildren won't believe that we're overtaxed until the national debt is paid.

SOMEONE SHOULD total up these weekly multimillion/billion-dollar-spending proposals from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. We've probably been misled by nearly a trillion dollars so far. They know that these vast spending programs couldn't happen even with a Democrat-controlled Congress, much less within their balanced-budget agreement with Republicans. Yet, almost daily since 1999 A.M. (After Monica) they've unveiled huge, imaginary feel-good plans they know can't be financed. Honesty, it seems, continues to elude the Clinton-Gore administration.

ANOTHER legacy that Reagan has bestowed on this country is a ''Lydia Pinkham'' economy.In its day, with a 40 percent alcohol content, Lydia's tonic for women made millions of them ''feel good.''Likewise, with more than a trillion dollars of borrowed money floated into the economy with Reagan's eight years of built-in budget deficits, millions of Americans ''feel good.''After years of borrowing billions, isn't it time for President Bush to give up his ''read my lips'' routine and, using the clout of the presidency, lead the people and thus Congress into a real debt-reduction program?

CNN During the campaign -- candidate Obama repeatedly promised the middle class wouldn't see its taxes increase "one single dime." . . . Fast-forward a year . . . After bank bailouts, auto bailouts and the economic stimulus package -- the president is trying to figure out a way to pay for all this plus health-care reform while also reducing deficits. There aren't many choices: Either raise taxes or cut spending. Jack Cafferty The Foundry President Obama is finding that keeping the promises made by candidate Obama is next to impossible.

DISLIKE FOR taxes is an age-old tradition. The Pharisees knew it when they tried to entrap Jesus by asking him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to the Roman emperor, Caesar. Later they railed against him for dining with tax collectors, a group they despised, just as some people today view the Internal Revenue Service.It is not surprising then that Republican lawmakers in Washington think that they are on a winning track in promising to cut taxes by almost a trillion dollars from expected budget surplus.

Political debate in this country often resembles the dialogue to be found in Alice in Wonderland.For example, all this talk about a flat tax is a red herring. Yes, a deliberate distraction from the real problems that are yet unsolved.Flat or graduated, as long as the government spends, it will tax, so it is pointless to talk about tax reductions until spending reductions actually are accomplished.But spending is only the effect. The cause is a centralized government that long has usurped its constitutional powers.